Poll

Bonnie Strassell - Owen County Historical Society

In rural America, many of these vital people are perhaps best pictured as dressed in overalls and walking behind a plow or sitting atop a tractor.
Their eyes crinkle at the corners from years of squinting in the sun, and their strong, calloused hands speak of tireless devotion to the land.

American preacher and author James Freeman Clarke once said, “A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.”
In early America, elected officials were referred to as statesmen for they were more interested in the good of their country than of furthering their careers. Statesmen such as Patrick Henry, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and others devoted their lives in service to their country.

He was near six feet tall with broad shoulders and a sandy complexion. There is no doubt that commanding a keelboat on the Kentucky toughened his body and expanded his horizons; and although at times his profanity shocked the naive, no one doubted the skill and sincerity of Owen County riverman and wharfmaster Dennis Byrnes.

In early America, one didn’t pick a fight with the village blacksmith, for everyone knew his trade produced the muscular, sinewy arms of a prized fighter.
The blacksmith shop was at the heart of most communities in the early 1900s. Inside the dim interior of the building, a powerfully rugged blacksmith would shoe horses and make iron implements. He was often called upon to act as a dentist, doctor, undertaker and horse dealer; and many blacksmiths held the position of magistrate or churchwarden.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”
Jefferson’s statement is perhaps best illustrated in the ebb and flow of life on a farm.
As the passionate heat of summer gives way to crisp autumn days, the farm family makes preparation for winter. In earlier days, apples, potatoes, cushaws, and onions were stored in root cellars, and inventory was taken of the wood supply that guaranteed satisfaction of a ravenous wood stove.

Before coins and paper money were used as a means of exchange, bartering for goods was a common practice on the American frontier. This practice continued in rural Kentucky into the 20th century when local hucksters would trade staples for anything from chickens, eggs, freshly caught fish or a fine snapping turtle.
Bartering dates back to 6,000 BC when tribes introduced it in Mesopotamia. The Babylonians developed an improved bartering system and exchanged goods for food, tea, weapons, and spices. At times, human skulls were bartered as well.

In early America, inns offered overnight places of rest to weary travelers. Many of these stops were built along stagecoach routes and provided for the needs of travelers, including food, lodging, stabling, fodder for the traveler’s horse and fresh mounts for the mail couch.

As the oppressive heat of August bears down upon Owen County, local churches make preparations for their annual revivals.
Revivals, or camp meetings as they were called in early Kentucky, beckoned the faithful and the penitent and presented the opportunity to listen to sermons, enjoy fellowship with other believers, partake in communion, and renew one’s Christian walk.
An entry in Mariam Houchens’ book, “The History of Owen County, Kentucky,” written by Mrs. Ira L. Arnold, described a Squiresville Baptist revival in August 1900.

In the 1830s the Second Great Awakening spread like wildfire across frontier Kentucky planting deep religious roots along the way.
During the same decade, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson, was reelected president, the Oregon Trail beckoned the out to the western frontier and staunch American patriots were slaughtered at the Battle of the Alamo.